Child prostitution cannot be ignored

There are apparently thousands of minors involved in prostitution, and their age is getting younger all the time. It is getting difficult to explain the lack of data concerning them as merely a mistake.

In 1997, the first public committee established to discuss the problem of minors involved in prostitution announced that it “couldn’t determine the exact number of minors under sexual exploitation,” and recommended that research be undertaken to reveal the extent of the problem. Seventeen years later, another public report, released last week, comes to similar conclusions: “At the moment, no official body in Israel has precise figures regarding the extent of prostitution of minors.” After so many years, it is difficult to explain this lack of data as merely coincidental or a mistake. Instead, it shows that this social problem has been shunted to the margins. Assistance groups estimate that there are thousands of minors involved in prostitution, and that their age is getting younger all the time.

The new report, written by a team of senior officials from six government ministries (justice, education, social affairs, interior, health and public security), and the police and various assistance groups, must lead to a reversal of this ongoing neglect, the outcome of which can clearly be seen in the difficulties in finding and treating boys, girls and transgender individuals involved in prostitution, as well as the minimal extent of law enforcement and punishment of pimps and people who exploit minors sexually.

The report recommends significantly expanding efforts to identify minors involved in prostitution and establishing training programs for teachers, counsellors, social workers, health-care workers, etc., who will help find these young people. It also recommends opening new frameworks to treat and rehabilitate such minors; creating programs suited to specific groups; examining the possibility of increasing penalties for people convicted of using minor prostitutes, and other steps.

In coming weeks, the various government ministries are to formulate a plan to put the report’s basic recommendations into action, and to estimate the funding required to do so. While some of the recommendations – such as changing laws or updating procedures – do not involve additional funding, there is no doubt that money will be needed: to redress the lack of emergency frameworks, to locate those in need, and to implement the long-term and complex rehabilitation process.

This is the test for the government’s true commitment to deal with the problem of prostitution among minors. The people claiming that treatment of this problem should not come from existing budgets are right, as present budgets are sufficient only for the teetering social-service infrastructure.

Publication of the report is an essential first step to remedying the situation. Its recommendations should serve as a compass and receive the funding they deserve. The government must complete the task and fight, even belatedly, this moral and social injustice.

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While the study of child prostitution may be guided by sincere concern
for children, there are a few basic truths which make this endeavor weak
at best. Between the times of the two studies, children have grown from
age of minority to, in many cases, adult prostitution. Once they pass
into majority age, the research interest diminishes, as does our
compassion. Most adult women in prostitution enter around age 12. The
recovery of a prostituted child or adult is difficult and will leave
lifelong scars. Another fact to consider is that while there is the
prostitution of adults, there will inevitably be prostitution of
children. The way to protect children is to pass the law that
criminalizes the buying of sex. This also sends a message to the
children, all Israelis and the world that, the Jewish State will not
tolerate the buying of human beings for any purpose whatsoever. This is
a human rights issue and one that especially impacts gender equality. It
is now to the Knesset to make pursue justice by finally passing the law
that puts the responsibility for prostitution at the feet of those who
would buy the body of a woman or child. It costs nothing to do that.

Does Israel not have a Child Protection infrastructure within it's
Social Care system? Child Sexual Exploitation is is Child Protection
issue. This article talks about research, budgets, further enquiry,
isn't it high time something was actually done rather than talked about.
It beggars belief that a country such as Israel is so behind when it
comes to protecting it's children who are abused and neglected. Perhaps
Israel needs to start looking at how other countries approach and deal
with Child Sexual Exploitation(CSE) . Whilst we are not perfect in the
UK and still have a lot to learn, we are much further forward in our
multi agency responses to CSE.

Please watch your language. Using the term child prostitutes is
misleading to your readers and potentially harmful to the children.
It is critical that the media (and law enforcement) remember that people
who are trafficked are victims, not criminals, and should be treated as
such. There are many alternate ways to refer to them including forced
sex workers, trafficking victims, or children forced into sex slavery.
As victims they should not acquire criminal records, they should be
provided access to social services, and they should be protected from
stigmatizing language.

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